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Thermal soaring in tropicbirds suggests that diverse seabirds may use this strategy to reduce flight costs

Baptiste Garde, A Fell, Krishnamoorthy Krishnan, CG Jones, R Gunner, V Tatayah, NC Cole, Manos Lempidakis, Emily Shepard Orcid Logo

Marine Ecology Progress Series, Volume: 723, Pages: 171 - 183

Swansea University Authors: Baptiste Garde, Krishnamoorthy Krishnan, Manos Lempidakis, Emily Shepard Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.3354/meps14410

Abstract

Thermal soaring can offer substantial reductions in flight cost, but it is often assumed to be confined to a relatively narrow group of fliers (those with low wing loading relative to their body mass). Using high-frequency movement data, including magnetometry and GPS, we identified thermal soaring...

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Published in: Marine Ecology Progress Series
ISSN: 0171-8630 1616-1599
Published: Inter-Research Science Center 2023
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa65702
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Using high-frequency movement data, including magnetometry and GPS, we identified thermal soaring in a seabird previously thought to use only flapping flight: the red-tailed tropicbird Phaethon rubricauda. We tracked 55 individuals breeding on Round Island, Mauritius, and examined the environmental conditions that predicted thermal soaring in 76 trips (ranging from 0.8 to 43 h, mean = 5.9 h). Tropicbirds used thermal soaring and gliding flight for 13% of their flight time on average (range 0-34%), in association with both commuting and prey-searching/pursuits. The use of thermal soaring showed strong variation between trips, but birds were more likely to soar when flying with tailwinds. This enables them to reduce their flight costs without a substantial increase in trip duration, which is pertinent in the breeding season when they are constrained by time and the need to return to a central place. Birds may therefore be able to increase the amount of thermal soaring outside the breeding season. Overall, we suggest that thermal soaring may be more widespread than previously thought, given that birds without specific morphological adaptations for this behaviour can soar for extended periods, and the bio-logging approaches best-placed to detect thermal soaring (high-frequency GPS/magnetometry) tend to be used during the breeding season, when thermal soaring may be less likely.</abstract><type>Journal Article</type><journal>Marine Ecology Progress Series</journal><volume>723</volume><journalNumber/><paginationStart>171</paginationStart><paginationEnd>183</paginationEnd><publisher>Inter-Research Science Center</publisher><placeOfPublication/><isbnPrint/><isbnElectronic/><issnPrint>0171-8630</issnPrint><issnElectronic>1616-1599</issnElectronic><keywords>Phaethon rubricauda; Flight; Energetics; Accelerometry; Biologging; Biotelemetry; GPS</keywords><publishedDay>23</publishedDay><publishedMonth>11</publishedMonth><publishedYear>2023</publishedYear><publishedDate>2023-11-23</publishedDate><doi>10.3354/meps14410</doi><url/><notes/><college>COLLEGE NANME</college><department>Biosciences</department><CollegeCode>COLLEGE CODE</CollegeCode><DepartmentCode>SBI</DepartmentCode><institution>Swansea University</institution><apcterm>External research funder(s) paid the OA fee (includes OA grants disbursed by the Library)</apcterm><funders>This work was funded by a European Research Council starter grant (715874 to E.L.C.S.), under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation program. Preliminary fieldwork was conducted with funding from Swansea University. We are grateful to the National Parks and Conservation Service, Government of Mauritius, who provided permission to access Round Island. 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spelling v2 65702 2024-02-26 Thermal soaring in tropicbirds suggests that diverse seabirds may use this strategy to reduce flight costs 0d5e96ee58acfec4771c81cd2cb4cca8 Baptiste Garde Baptiste Garde true false cb969e5504f107a82db71f89865d2b3a Krishnamoorthy Krishnan Krishnamoorthy Krishnan true false 7ddccac6c4aa55c9362bca7def907848 Manos Lempidakis Manos Lempidakis true false 54729295145aa1ea56d176818d51ed6a 0000-0001-7325-6398 Emily Shepard Emily Shepard true false 2024-02-26 SBI Thermal soaring can offer substantial reductions in flight cost, but it is often assumed to be confined to a relatively narrow group of fliers (those with low wing loading relative to their body mass). Using high-frequency movement data, including magnetometry and GPS, we identified thermal soaring in a seabird previously thought to use only flapping flight: the red-tailed tropicbird Phaethon rubricauda. We tracked 55 individuals breeding on Round Island, Mauritius, and examined the environmental conditions that predicted thermal soaring in 76 trips (ranging from 0.8 to 43 h, mean = 5.9 h). Tropicbirds used thermal soaring and gliding flight for 13% of their flight time on average (range 0-34%), in association with both commuting and prey-searching/pursuits. The use of thermal soaring showed strong variation between trips, but birds were more likely to soar when flying with tailwinds. This enables them to reduce their flight costs without a substantial increase in trip duration, which is pertinent in the breeding season when they are constrained by time and the need to return to a central place. Birds may therefore be able to increase the amount of thermal soaring outside the breeding season. Overall, we suggest that thermal soaring may be more widespread than previously thought, given that birds without specific morphological adaptations for this behaviour can soar for extended periods, and the bio-logging approaches best-placed to detect thermal soaring (high-frequency GPS/magnetometry) tend to be used during the breeding season, when thermal soaring may be less likely. Journal Article Marine Ecology Progress Series 723 171 183 Inter-Research Science Center 0171-8630 1616-1599 Phaethon rubricauda; Flight; Energetics; Accelerometry; Biologging; Biotelemetry; GPS 23 11 2023 2023-11-23 10.3354/meps14410 COLLEGE NANME Biosciences COLLEGE CODE SBI Swansea University External research funder(s) paid the OA fee (includes OA grants disbursed by the Library) This work was funded by a European Research Council starter grant (715874 to E.L.C.S.), under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation program. Preliminary fieldwork was conducted with funding from Swansea University. We are grateful to the National Parks and Conservation Service, Government of Mauritius, who provided permission to access Round Island. This work was part of B.G.’s PhD thesis entitled ‘Fine scale changes in flight effort revealed by animal borne loggers’, awarded by Swansea University. 2024-03-25T14:24:14.0525410 2024-02-26T15:48:28.5640765 Faculty of Science and Engineering School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences Baptiste Garde 1 A Fell 2 Krishnamoorthy Krishnan 3 CG Jones 4 R Gunner 5 V Tatayah 6 NC Cole 7 Manos Lempidakis 8 Emily Shepard 0000-0001-7325-6398 9
title Thermal soaring in tropicbirds suggests that diverse seabirds may use this strategy to reduce flight costs
spellingShingle Thermal soaring in tropicbirds suggests that diverse seabirds may use this strategy to reduce flight costs
Baptiste Garde
Krishnamoorthy Krishnan
Manos Lempidakis
Emily Shepard
title_short Thermal soaring in tropicbirds suggests that diverse seabirds may use this strategy to reduce flight costs
title_full Thermal soaring in tropicbirds suggests that diverse seabirds may use this strategy to reduce flight costs
title_fullStr Thermal soaring in tropicbirds suggests that diverse seabirds may use this strategy to reduce flight costs
title_full_unstemmed Thermal soaring in tropicbirds suggests that diverse seabirds may use this strategy to reduce flight costs
title_sort Thermal soaring in tropicbirds suggests that diverse seabirds may use this strategy to reduce flight costs
author_id_str_mv 0d5e96ee58acfec4771c81cd2cb4cca8
cb969e5504f107a82db71f89865d2b3a
7ddccac6c4aa55c9362bca7def907848
54729295145aa1ea56d176818d51ed6a
author_id_fullname_str_mv 0d5e96ee58acfec4771c81cd2cb4cca8_***_Baptiste Garde
cb969e5504f107a82db71f89865d2b3a_***_Krishnamoorthy Krishnan
7ddccac6c4aa55c9362bca7def907848_***_Manos Lempidakis
54729295145aa1ea56d176818d51ed6a_***_Emily Shepard
author Baptiste Garde
Krishnamoorthy Krishnan
Manos Lempidakis
Emily Shepard
author2 Baptiste Garde
A Fell
Krishnamoorthy Krishnan
CG Jones
R Gunner
V Tatayah
NC Cole
Manos Lempidakis
Emily Shepard
format Journal article
container_title Marine Ecology Progress Series
container_volume 723
container_start_page 171
publishDate 2023
institution Swansea University
issn 0171-8630
1616-1599
doi_str_mv 10.3354/meps14410
publisher Inter-Research Science Center
college_str Faculty of Science and Engineering
hierarchytype
hierarchy_top_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
department_str School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Science and Engineering{{{_:::_}}}School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences
document_store_str 0
active_str 0
description Thermal soaring can offer substantial reductions in flight cost, but it is often assumed to be confined to a relatively narrow group of fliers (those with low wing loading relative to their body mass). Using high-frequency movement data, including magnetometry and GPS, we identified thermal soaring in a seabird previously thought to use only flapping flight: the red-tailed tropicbird Phaethon rubricauda. We tracked 55 individuals breeding on Round Island, Mauritius, and examined the environmental conditions that predicted thermal soaring in 76 trips (ranging from 0.8 to 43 h, mean = 5.9 h). Tropicbirds used thermal soaring and gliding flight for 13% of their flight time on average (range 0-34%), in association with both commuting and prey-searching/pursuits. The use of thermal soaring showed strong variation between trips, but birds were more likely to soar when flying with tailwinds. This enables them to reduce their flight costs without a substantial increase in trip duration, which is pertinent in the breeding season when they are constrained by time and the need to return to a central place. Birds may therefore be able to increase the amount of thermal soaring outside the breeding season. Overall, we suggest that thermal soaring may be more widespread than previously thought, given that birds without specific morphological adaptations for this behaviour can soar for extended periods, and the bio-logging approaches best-placed to detect thermal soaring (high-frequency GPS/magnetometry) tend to be used during the breeding season, when thermal soaring may be less likely.
published_date 2023-11-23T14:24:10Z
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